Old Kewanee

leaking

I have a 1955 Kewanee for a 12 unit building, I cant afford a new boiler and have a area of rust and a small leak on the side near the bottom. My boiler repairman says it would need a whole new bottom at 10,000.00 and a new unit is 20-25. I trust him but is it possible to do a repair on a boiler this rotten and not have it be a whole bottom, the leak is on the side.

Dave in QCA

cast iron or steel?

Is this boiler cast iron or steel?  Kewanee primarily made steel fire tube boilers.  If this is what it is, you may be able to have a patch welded on.

nicholas bonham-carter

old kewanee old leak

compare the repair/replacement cost to your annual gas bill. do a radiation survey to see if the connected load equals,  the capacity of the boiler. everyone likes the strength of these old boilers; but if it is over-sized for the job, then it is certainly costing you money!

can you down-fire the burner? has this boiler been properly maintained, blown down etc. did you ever get the pressure down? is the venting ample enough to prevent the formation of a carbonic acid soup in it? is it so full of stop-leak that there is an insulating layer on the inside? is the supply piping properly installed [even in 1955 there were knuckleheads]?

is this leak above or below the waterline?

i wonder if the repair cost at 50% of new replacement cost is the way to go, especially if it is over-sized. if you fix it now, then will some other part fail when winter is really here?--nbc

Jean-David Beyer

Welding steam boilers.

I suppose the codes for welding home steam heating boilers are different from locomotive boilers that tend to run at 150 psi and above. For those, in most states it is illegal to weld anything in the boilers, according to a friend of mine with a gold seal high pressure license with an endorsement for locomotives. The fire tubes have to be replaced every so many hours, and the boilers must be pressure tested once a year in the presense of the insurance inspector (Hartford). There was some welding that was technically allowed, but it had to be done in the welding shop that was licensed and approved and, as a practical matter, taking a steam locomotive there was not practical because it was beyond the size capacity of the welding shop, and the cost was prohibitive. Apparently for that kind of thing, both the welder and the shop must be licensed. (The locomotive in question is a display one now and must not be operated.)

Dave in QCA

I am sure the requirements vary with operating pressure

I don't know the specifics of the codes, but a low pressure boiler rated at a maximum of 15 psi and operating at a maximum of 2 psi would surely be under different guidelines than a high pressure locomotive boiler.

I know for fact, because I saw it with my own eyes, that a major residential structure owned and operated by the federal government under the oversite of a crew of engineers, (that follow the codes to the letter) had recently been repaired by welding a patch of thick boiler plate onto the side of a kewanee steel fire tube boiler.  The patch was near at the bottom back corner.  I assume that the leak was confined to this small area and that the rest of the boiler wall was OK. 

I don't know if thiscompares to the boiler that is the subject of this thread.  But, a $500 repair is a lot less than a new boiler, and depending on the condition of the rest of the boiler, it could operate for another 20 years.  Then again, it might be money down the drain.  Depends on the overal condition of the boiler.